FREE Email Newsletter

Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals

While the full fruition of the Internet of Things may be a several years away, smart home and connected devices are already having an impact on the Internet. Cloud-vendor Akamai Technologies released its third quarter 2014 State of the Internet report this morning, which said, in part, that the Internet of Things (IoT) was starting to change the Internet.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler appears poised to propose new rules that would classify Internet service providers as public utilities in a move designed to ensure everyone has the same access to free content online.Wheeler strongly indicated Wednesday that he favors the shift to tougher regulations, describing it as "just and reasonable" during an appearance in Las Vegas at CES.

Even as Netflix continues to pump out more original programming, its bosses say they will continue to keep secret details on how many people are actually watching. The ratings "arms race" on traditional television has a negative effect on creativity, said Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content executive.

On this day in history, 1953, President Harry S. Truman announced in his final State of the Union address that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb. About three years prior on January 31, 1950, President Truman publically stated that he had requested the Atomic Energy Commission to begin the development of the hydrogen bomb.

Two companies involved in G.fast said they have conducted the first public demonstrations of the technology that promises to accelerate ordinary DSL networks up to rates fast enough to support the delivery of 4K ultra high definition (UHD) video, and possibly on even to a gigabit per second.

The company showed the LiveSphere application running on an Android set-top box reference design based on the STMicroelectronics Cannes chipset, which supports 4K video. The dynamic selection of the field of view relies on a remote by 4MOD Technology.

A collaboration between Broadcom and Comcast is providing a key building block to the Reference Design Kit for broadband devices. At CES, Broadcom announced that its DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 silicon now supports RDK-B, which will allow cable operators to speed up the deployment cycles for next-generation broadband gateway devices.

Suddenlink Communications has signed up to use Rovi’s DTA guide for its subscribers that are using HD digital terminal adapters (DTAs.) The Rovi DTA Guide provides more digital-like features in viewers’ living rooms while freeing up bandwidth for more HD channels and faster broadband speeds.

While gadget companies are celebrating a coming bonanza of health trackers, connected cars and "smart" home appliances, the head of the FTC is pressing the tech industry to protect consumer privacy. Powerful networks of data sensors and connected devices will collect a vast trove of user information but represent "a deeply personal and startlingly complete picture of each of us," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.

Cisco was directly involved in the design and software integration of the Broadcom-based hybrid set-top box. Charter is using ActiveVideo’s Cloud TV platform, which renders the entire user experience server-side, including the EPG video thumbnails, and delivers it as an MPEG stream.

On this day in history, 1838, Samuel Morse demonstrated his telegraph system at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New Jersey for the first time. The device used electric impulses to transmit encoded messages through a wire. In 1998, the Lunar Prospector launched from the Kennedy Space Center.

SmartThings, a connected home startup that Samsung bought in 2014, at CES Monday pushed out the next generation of its products and deepened third-party product integration. The company also introduced a new premium subscription service.

The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) announced at CES this morning that it had reached 400 Mbps net throughputs during its ongoing MoCA 2.0 field tests. The 400 Mbps net throughputs (MAC rate) were reached in 90 percent of all coaxial cabling outlets or paths, while net throughputs were greater than 350 Mbps for 95 percent of the paths.